Pieces | Heejake | Enhypen

chapter seventeen

A trio of employees was having a hushed conversation, stealing secret glances at Jake who had just entered the cafeteria to collect his boss's morning coffee.

Everyone in the office was doing the same thing.

Today, Jake appeared disheveled, with redness underneath his eyes and uncombed hair covering most of his slanted head.

Myung strenuously made Jake wear a normal shirt rather than the black turtleneck he usually prefers after a night like yesterday.

The plain white shirt showcased the horrendous marks on his neck.

Initially, he had no plan of reporting to the office, but he was coerced, and now he has become the center of almost all the muffled conversations among the staff.

-----

Heeseung was pacing inside his office while attending an important call. Today's morning was a hustle for him too. His side business had some necessity that he needed to take care of, and he had been stressing out about it.

He was so into his work that he didn't notice when Jake placed a coffee on his table. After finishing fifteen minutes of a frustrating conference call with Sunghoon and other co-partners, he loosened up.

"It's alright, man. I know you can do this," Sunghoon encouraged from the other line. It was only him and Heeseung on the call now.

"You are saying this because you don't have to deal with it," Heeseung argued.

"You know I'm swamped; otherwise, I surely would be accompanying you," dramatic paper flipping sounded from the other side.

Heeseung chuckled at his silly friend; they talked for a few more minutes before ending the call.

Sunghoon helped him water down his tension, but his head still ached thinking about the sudden change in his schedule.

He called Jake to inform him about the matter, but no one answered. This is the third time he is calling for him. Even during the meeting, he needed Jake to bring him some documents, but the latter never responded.

Annoyed, Heeseung finally decided to go out and check his PA himself.

When he opened his office door, he could already see Jake's empty desk.

Heeseung frowned. Other employees were acting a little weird, which the boss surely noticed. They all looked scared, and some even gave him angry looks for no reason.

The boss ignored this unusual behavior of his workers and proceeded to ask one of his known employees about his personal assistant.

"Where is Jake?" Heeseung asked. Since he was annoyed earlier, his voice came out a little displeased.

The young, confident lady staff, whom Heeseung knew for her excellent work, looked hesitant. She avoided eye contact, which was unlikely of her.

"Kang Eun-ji! Where is Jake?" Heeseung asked again.

"Hos... hospital," she said.

Heeseung's eyes squinted and brows burrowed deeper.

"Earlier, after coming out of your office, he fainted, so we... we called an ambulance which took him to the city hospital," Eun-ji informed.

"What!!.... Why didn't anyone tell me about this before!" Heeseung exclaimed angrily.

People in the room flinched at the sudden change in their boss's emotion.

"Sorry," the young lady apologized softly.

Heeseung didn't wait for another second and took off to the hospital mentioned before.

---

Upon reaching the hospital, he checked the common area where multiple beds were present. It is an area where less serious patients are dealt.

But after not finding Jake on any of these beds, he asked the receptionist, which he should have done earlier but he was too desperate to find Jake that the idea didn't cross his mind.

Heeseung dashed towards room 143 and flung the door open, "Jake," he found the younger sleeping with a blood bag attached to his wrist.

There were two other people with him, a guy and a girl, who were playing a mobile game earlier, straightened up quickly upon seeing Heeseung, and bowed a full ninety degrees.

Heeseung told them that they can go back to work and that he would take care of Jake himself. The other two were hesitant but decided not to disobey their boss.

Both of them went out, bickering, which made Heeseung chuckle inside. 'His friends are exactly like him,' he thought.

Heeseung took a seat near Jake's bed and finally noticed why everyone in the office acted weird.

'What... happened?'

Jake looked sick; his face seemed small, and his body, his body looked malnourished.

Heeseung carefully flipped the corner of his friend's collar, which revealed multiple red and purple bruises.

It was difficult to tell if they were from love or abuse because Jake's whole torso was painted with it.

Yet the most concerning thing out of all was the fresh stitches on his palm.

'How did this happen, what happened last night after I dropped you.'

Heeseung was confused as to when all this happened. He clearly remembers dropping the younger in front of his house, then how?

While Jake was still sleeping, Heeseung decided to talk with the doctor who treated his wound.

The doctor informed him that the patient had a serious and deep wound, which was poorly dressed when he entered.

This also might have caused Jake significant blood loss, for which he is being kept at the hospital.

The doctor told Heeseung that the blood report showed low hemoglobin and slightly low platelets as well. Jake needs to have proper medication and rest to recover, or else his condition would only get worse.

---

When Heeseung came back with meds and food in his hand, he found Jake's bed vacant.

His eyes grew in panic. He searched for his friend on the entire floor, but Jake was nowhere to be found.

Heeseung rushed outside to see if Jake left. There he heard a woman talking, "Why is that guy up there? He is not going to jump, is he?"

This made Heeseung's head turn towards the terrace. The building was tall, but the silhouette was still recognizable, "Jake."